Heavy Forecast (2)
Episode 31 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean Part II begins with the narrator discussing a tragic event in 1972, where a mother notices her baby die in her arms. The distraught mother exits her room. The mother switches her dead toddler with a living one and places her dead one next to another baby. Several years pass, and we find an aged Pucci sitting next to his fraternal twin’s gravestone with his family present. His mother informs Pucci about his brother and his name Domenic. We traverse forward in time to 1987 and see a 15-year-old Pucci praying at an altar. He asks God about his brother as the narrator gives viewers more information about Pucci’s Italian grandmother and his interest in pursuing his priesthood. That night, Pucci encounters Dio Brando, who explains why he’s resting in the church because he can’t interact with sunlight. Pucci asks Dio to leave by sunset, and he won’t inform the Father about his arrival. Dio finds it odd that Pucci would allow him to frolic around the church, but Pucci tells Dio he trusts him. Dio offers to fix Pucci’s foot problem, but Pucci tells him to leave it be since he was born with imperfections. Dio hands Pucci a Stand arrowhead as he remarks how he loves traveling and meeting people. When Pucci needs Dio’s assistance, Dio instructs him to make a wish on the arrow. Dio tells Pucci to call for him–no matter how far into the future it may be. Dio promises to leave the church at sunset and vanishes. Pucci looks at his foot. He’s shocked that Dio healed his toes. In 1988, Pucci cleans an area in the church as a woman confesses a sin she’s held for 16 years at the booth. The woman reveals herself to be the same mother who replaced Pucci’s brother with her dead offspring. The woman vows that she raised their child correctly, but never told him about the incident. Meanwhile, we see a young Weather Report delivering juice to a restaurant. Some girls gossip about Weather as a man swipes their friend Perla’s purse. Weather stops the man by throwing a can of juice at him. Unfortunately, Weather breaks the store’s window and worries he’ll get fired. The narrator reveals that Weather’s real name is Wes Aquamarine. Perla approaches Weather and tells him she’s fabricated the truth to help Weather avoid termination. Weather asks her if they can hang out sometime soon as we flash forward to two months after the woman made her confession to Pucci. The narrator says Pucci’s having trouble keeping the woman’s confession a secret as he doesn’t want to lose his clergymen status. Pucci encounters Perla at his residence. We learn that she is his sister. Perla tells Pucci that she met a handsome man she’s grown fond of and wants Pucci to keep it on the down low. Pucci complies. The narrator asks the audience to form their conclusion on how made a sin between the troubling mother, Pucci, and Weather. Eventually, Pucci discovers that Perla’s secretly dating their biological brother, upsetting Pucci as he knows she’s committing a sin. Pucci hires a private investigator to assist him in helping Perla break up with Weather naturally. The narrator spouts how Pucci made a terrible decision as the investigator he hired was a jack of all trades who had darkness in his heart that Pucci wasn’t aware of before hiring him. The investigator notices Perla and Weather kissing and is disgusted by it. He rounds up a gang of zealots, and they ambush Weather and Perla. They beat Weather to a bloody pulp, and the investigator punches Perla to the ground. The investigator boasts how Perla’s brother wanted this to happen as he tells Weather that he and his men set his fake mother’s house ablaze. After that night, we see Weather hanging from a tree by a cliff as Perla looks at the scene in horror. Perla shares some tear-jerking words toward Weather and throws herself into the lake. The narrator remarks how Perla didn’t realize that Weather still had a pulse. Pucci sees some gentlemen scavenge his sister’s body and rushes toward her. Pucci grabs Perla in his arms and questions all that he’s done. During his breakdown, he recalls Dio’s words from years ago. Pucci plans to visit Dio to see if he can help Perla since he had the power to heal her bent toes. Suddenly, Perla’s head opens up, revealing her Stand and memory disc. The arrowhead Dio gave Pucci shoots into his heart and sticks out his neck. While in pain, he hears Dio’s voice. Dio tells Pucci that he can’t resurrect Perla, but can savor the memories from her heart. Pucci falls into the ocean having awakened his Stand. We get a brief glimpse of Weather lying on the ground with blood spurting from his neck. Later, Weather visits the investigator’s domain and murders him. Weather grabs his gun and tries shooting himself, but his Stand power won’t allow it. After several failed attempts at committing suicide, Weather yells at the heavens. His rage leads to more snails popping up and murdering the people in town. The narrator explains that no one knows how the snails correlate with Weather’s powers. Meanwhile, Pucci awakens in a hospital and notices all the snails. He assumes that when he awakened his Stand, Weather awakened his since they’re twins. Pucci plans to defeat Weather and visit Dio for more information about his abilities. We see Pucci confront Weather and inform him that he’s Weather’s older brother. Pucci steals Weather’s memory disc, leading to Weather’s imprisonment at Green Dolphin State Prison. In the present, Weather claims he has a score to settle with Pucci, but Anastasia remarks how they need to find Jolyne first. Weather disagrees and asks Anastasia if he can assist Weather in killing himself. The episode concludes with Jolyne and the others hopping into a vehicle as they plan to reunite with Weather and Anastasia.
The Episode Review
While some may not adore the narration approach toward Pucci and Weather’s backstory, it touches upon some themes that’ll pull at fans’ heartstrings. The whole flashback wreaks drama and sorrow. I couldn’t help but feel bad for Pucci and Weather, as both characters were looking out for Perla before her tragic demise. This backstory allows viewers to empathize with these two characters and the different routes they took. At the same time, it makes you wonder why the prior episodes built Weather up as a threat toward Jolyne and her friends. The only people Weather sought vengeance toward were the investigator, his goons, and Pucci. In the flashback, we don’t see Weather share any ill will toward anyone, despite being upset with his day job as a juice transporter. This makes his build-up as a threat toward Jolyne and her friends feel conflicting. Not receiving an explanation of the snails and Weather’s Stand was a bummer too. You’d think the narrator would know how the snails correlate with Weather’s Stand power. Besides its narration-focused storytelling and lack of reasoning behind Weather’s darkened personality toward others, this chapter offers more context for characters like Pucci and Weather. Overall, this episode featured some heartbreaking scenery, emotional dialogue, and a decent characterization of our main antagonist. I’m curious to see if Anastasia will assist Weather in murdering himself or if we’ll get a battle between Weather and Pucci before the series closes shop. That said, let’s hope our heroes can triumph over the obstacles set in their way.
